I'm a vegan, a long time reader, and a slow but determined runner. I'm a PhD and math professor with a great family and a pack of dogs. Follow me on Facebook at http://facebook.com/zuzubeat or Twitter and Instagram @zuzubeat

This month, I'm focusing on 4 things:
Running: I have a half marathon in two weeks, and then start training for my full in the fall. I'm going to need to get significantly faster, so I've been doing some reading about increasing pace, and will be incorporating speed work in my training. I'm training 3-4 times a week.
Writing: I want to finish writing my dissertation this month. Chapters 1-3 are good to go, while chapters 4&5 are in drafts & revisions. Optimally, I'll finish these two chapters by mid-month so that I have time to revise again as per the whims of my mentor before the end of the month. My goal is to write an hou a day, 3-4 times per week.
Reading: Oh, man, I have such a pile of good books to read. Peace, Living the Farm Sanctuary life, Healthy Happy Vegan kitchen, The Plant Power family, All the light we cannot see, For colored girls who dream...., the new LIW autobiography, just to name a few. I would like to read 10-15 books this month.
Eating: I've been so busy, it has been easy to slack off with blogging about food. Once the semester ends, I'll be more vigilant about that. With the weather getting warmer, I need to make sure I drink lots of water. I want to try to drink 100 oz of water every day. I've been successful with this goal for 3 days now, and like everything about it, except the second nighttime pee wake.

I had the opportunity to travel up to Boston, MA, earlier this month for the annual NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics). Rob took a few days off work to accompany me. He wandered around sight-seeing & visiting pubs while I went to sessions each day, and we ate lovely vegan food each evening.

We took the train from DC, and I enjoyed that! It reminded me of my younger days in Europe. We stopped for a bite to eat on the way up to the station, but they mucked up my order. Luckily we arrived a little early, and I was able to pick up a lovely falafel & hummus salad from Pret a Manager. We boarded the train, and tucked into our seats for the overnight trip.

Once we arrived, it didn't take long for me to realize that I love Boston. It is such a great city, with so much history! Before my first session on Wednesday, Rob and I walked the Freedom Trail.

While we were walking, we found this great juice bar, Revolution Juice, in Back Bay. Breakfast! I got a beet & kale concoction that hit the spot.

I went to my afternoon sessions, then met Rob for dinner. Our first night, we chose My Thai, a vegan restaurant in Chinatown, which was on the way from the conference center to the hotel. My Thai is kind of a sketchy looking place from the outside. You have to climb a grungy looking stairwell, but once inside it is spacious, light, and full of live plants. The service was slow, but the food was amazing! I really loved both my summer rolls and the yellow curry. The chocolate cake looked so tempting, but I was too full to order any.

The next morning, I woke up Rob super early to go for a run with me. Our hotel was half a mile from the Boston gardens & commons, and it was so beautiful to run there. On top of that, the marathon finish line was just two blocks away, and we could see the preparations for that. With the marathon only a few days away there were lots of runners out. I was wearing my Baltimore running festival shirt, and saw another runner out also wearing one. We greeted eachother like old friends, and he said "Good luck in the race!" Holy cow! He thought I was running in the Boston Marathon! That means I must look like a real runner! I mean, true, I am signed up for and training for a marathon next fall, but I never imagined someone would assume that a hack runner like me could run Boston! What a compliment!

At the conference on Thursday, I decided to see if I could find any vegan food there in the center. I was in luck! They not only had a nice-looking salad bar, they also had stir fry veggies & tofu! This dish was okay, but hell, it was vegan, and I ate it during a session on kinesthetic trigonometry.

After many great sessions on Thursday, I met Rob at the nearby Harpoon brewery for a drink and tour. While we were waiting for the tour to start, we ate a beer-boiled pretzel (vegan!) with spicy mustard. Rob said, "Hey, this pretzel is shaped like a B for Boston!"

I really enjoy this brewery's UFO (unfiltered) series.

Late that evening, we took the T out to Cambridge Squre, and met our young friend, Courtney, who is a vegan and goes to Boston University. We met at Veggie Galaxy, an all vegetarian diner, where everything on the menu could be made vegan. Since I never get to order vegan breakfasts, thats what I was craving. I got a vegan breakfast sandwich, with scrambled tofu, seitan bacon, and dayia cheese. I also ordered a side pancake, because pancakes. The food here was served with abundance. Typical of diner food, it was a little heavy and very decadent. We weren't able to even dent our servings, and took our leftovers for the next day.

It was great fun talking with Courtney. No matter how supportive your family and friends are of your vegan lifestyle, there's nothing like sharing food with another vegan.

Friday morning we went for another run, even though it was raining. This time we stopped at Flour bakery on the way back to the hotel, where they have a smattering of vegan baked goods available each day. I bought a banana muffin, and a chocolate cake muffin. Sorry no pictures. I ate the banana muffin as soon as we got to the hotel, and the chocolate one was in crumbles when I ate it on the train, but trust me, both were delicious!

On the way to my last session, we walked by Cheers (reruns of which we've been watching on Netflix in anticipation of this trip. We're still in the Diane/Coach episodes), but it wasn't open yet. I promised Rob we could go next time we visit, in June.

Outside the train station, there were a number of food trucks, one of which was a Clover Food Labs truck. Clover haas a string af veg trucks around the Boston area. I picked up a chickpea frittata for the train, which was essentially a pita with hummus, falafels, and red cabbage. This was very tasty, and not too messy to eat on the train.

I just loved Boston, and can't wait to go back in June, for my friend Kristin's book release party!

Sunday, April 26, 2015

So, I have some super exciting news! My friend, Kristin Lajeunesse, has just published her long-awaited book!!! It just came out last week, and even though I got a preview copy to read electronically, I was stoked to receive my paper copy in the mail yesterday.

Will Travel for Vegan Food is an awesome memoir of Kristin's adventures around the US, eating the best vegan food, and living the most amazing life.

As many of you know, I may be a little obsessive about planning road trips and
annual vacations. Weeks (and sometimes months!) before our departure date, I have been known to spend hours scouring different websites like happycow.org, looking not just for places to eat, but for places I'd want to eat.

Ha. I just realized that my obsession with needing to find great food while traveling may stem back to the summer of 1995. I was pregnant, and moved from Texas to Maryland by way of a family reunion in Chicago, Il. Because my car didn't have AC, or working windows, I hitched a ride with my mom and youngest brother, and we piled into her van with two dogs (Lady and Daisy) and my cat (Bear-Bear). Traveling with the pets in the heat made indoor dining off limits, and even though at the time I was still a vegetarian, not yet a vegan, many fast food options were not options for me. We ended up eating a lot at Burger King (where I could get a Whopper- minus the meat, which means veggies and cheese on a bun) and Wendy's (where I could get a baked potato). They were having a Pocahontas movie promotion that summer, as I recall, and my first Maryland kitchen was stocked with drinking glasses featuring those movie characters.

Anyway, back to present day....many detours have been taken so that we can visit
vegan friendly restaurants, and thankfully, my family is super supportive of these jaunts! It was during the planning of one of
these trips many years ago that I stumbled onto Kristin's blog, www.wtfveganfood.com. Kristin
was doing what I only dreamed of: traveling and eating at all the vegan
restaurants in the contiguous United States. Her blog quickly became
one of my top resources. Not only were her reviews spot on (I mean,
really. The service at My Thai is STILL slow, but the entrée suggestions
perfect), but Kristin had such warmth and honesty, that her passion for
her project became compelling to vegans and non-vegans alike. She also
conveyed a tremendous amount of fun, posting dance-a-day videos, and
other silliness.

When I was given a preview copy to read, I expected
what I knew from the blog, fun, warm, vegan feels. What I read, though,
was so much more. In telling the story of her journey, we learn about
her amazing entrepreneurial spirit, her struggles, her romantic trysts,
her loneliness, her heartbreaks, and the realities of her nomadic
dream. She becomes much more than the vegan blogger goddess I'd
come to love, in this book she invites you into her soul. In anticipation of her book release, I asked her some questions I thought you, my readers, would be most interested in. Here is what she said:

1. You went from working for a vegan company to creating your own
brand, writing a book, and sharing your expertise with other
self-starters. What in your life (education, etc.) do you feel has
prepared you the most for your entrepreneurship?

Oh
wow, what a great question. Hmm... my instinct is that it's been
somewhat of a built-in mechanism. I always knew I wanted to work for
myself and my Dad has been a lifelong self-employed entrepreneurs so I
had a great role model growing up. At the end of the day I suppose it's
my supportive family and friends that have encouraged me along the way,
in addition to a deep intuitive 'knowing' that being self-employed is
where my heart is.

2. When did the book idea become a reality?

About
a year into my road trip I got a call from an acquaintance in Boston.
He said he wanted to talk to me about a business venture. A few more
phone calls and emails later and I was signed as one of the first
authors to a company he and his wife were starting: Vegan Publishers.
Then, shortly after my trip ended (in August 2013) I began working on
the outline of the book. I finished writing it in October 2014 and since
then we've been going through the editing, reviewing, and printing
stages. I can't believe it's *finally* ready! :)

3. How do you fund all of your travels?

I
used 100% of my personal savings, paired with a successful
Kickstarter.com campaign, and then the continued support of a few donors
that helped keep me going. I lived entirely off of donations and my
savings, for the full 2 years.

6. How did you keep in shape while traveling and eating all the decadent vegan noms?

I
didn't! Haha.. by the end of the first year I'd gained 25lbs. I ate
anything and everything that was vegan. Which often included sweets.

7. What's next for you?

I've
dedicated 2015 to the promotion of the book, while hunkering down here
in Chicago. Though I'll be traveling quite a bit in May and June to
speak at veggie events around the country. Then I'll go on book tour in
late summer/fall. In February of 2016 I'm co-hosting a Lifestyle retreat
in Nicaragua with my friend Grace Van Berkum. She'll be leading the
group through daily yoga and raw food prep classes while I take the
group through business and entrepreneurship classes. Then, I'm hoping to
spend much of 2016 traveling the globe, reporting on vegan finds via
video instead of written blog form.

I'd love to recommend this book to you. It's not just for vegans, it is for any self-starter, anyone with a dream. In addition, I'd like to offer a giveaway! Kristin sent me a box of goodies, including some bumper stickers, water bottles, and some awesome iPhone bamboo cases. Head on over to my facebook page www.facebook.com/zuzubeat and leave a comment below this blog post telling me YOUR vegan dream, and I'll pick my three favorite answers to receive some Will Travel for Vegan Food swag!!! Post before midnight, EST on Friday, May 1, 2015 for a chance to win.

You'll notice some repeats of recipies from last week. Well, I well intentionally purchased the groceries I would have needed last week, but then ended up not using them. It was a super super busy week with some sad parts (we had to say goodbye to our sweet cat, Gracious) and some wonderful parts (I hosted yet another veteran's hero flight from Nebraska on a trip to DC. This group consisted of Korean War veterans. But I'll blog more extensively on that later.)

This week I am gearing up to finish out the spring semester of classes. I will be teaching final lessons, conducting reviews, writing exams, etc. Classes end next week, and boy, am I ready. Other than that, I am running (Galloway intervals of 2:1) and working on my dissertation, and getting a little reading done, too.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Rob and I took a trip to Boston last week, for a NCTM conference. What a beautiful city! After my sessions each day, we walked and walked all over the city, and ate some great vegan food! I'll post about those adventures later this week.

This week I'm pleased to be hosting another group of Korean War veterans in DC.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Woke up naturally at 6:30am, and didn't feel tired. Usually I fuunction best on 8-9 hours of sleep, but today I feel totally rested after about 7. That's interesting. Today I plan on doing some yoga, taking the third dog to the Dogfest, and then spending most of the day at the computer, writing. Although this will be my last active day, it may be the most challenging, because I'll have lots of down time to think about food.

Today's cleanse will be in the same order as the last two days:

Detox Greens x2, Spicy Lemonade, Sweet Greens x2, Coconut Fusion. I am in a great mood today, good energy, head feels okay, and my weight dropped again to 150.6. I'm sure this weight loss will go away after I start eating again tomorrow, but I'm fine with that since weight loss was not my cleanse intention. I'll be curious to track it over the next few days, though.

I sat down and reviewed my list. I made a pretty decent dent in the things I wanted to do. The biggies for me today will be to finish & file my taxes, and re-write my dissertation's Chapter 4. I'm not super excited about all the sitting I have in store today, so I may start with a walk.

After a walk with 2 of the pups, I finished my Detox Greens, finished filing my taxes, and worked for a bit on my dissertation. At 2:45, I came close to eating. It's not so much that I'm starving, I just want something to eat. Maybe it is time for an avocado. I drank the Spicy Lemonade first, and gave myself an hour to think about it. Maybe this is why most cleanses are 3 days. I read a blog of a woman who typically juice fasted for 21-28 days. She was going to next do 40 days. I'm astounded by this. Could that be healthy? I get a cleanse of up to a week, but anything longer than that seems a little crazy.

At 3:30, I ate the avocado. It was a mercy eating, really, those things are getting really ripe. It was delicious, and had the biggest avocado pit I've seen in a while! Speaking of which, I've been trying to grow my own avocado plant with a pit, but it hasn't sprouted yet.

After my slump mid-afternoon, I was ready to take on the rest of the day. With my Sweet Greens juices, I cleaned the carpet, unloaded the dishwasher (From Wednesday!) and worked on my paper.

I feel good. I'm excited about my Coconut Fusion water in a little bit. But tomorrow, I'm going to eat ALL the food.

Lessons learned from the cleanse:

It's okay to eat the occasional avocado, or banana. I don't feel bad about that!

I am capable of running 9.33 miles on very little, so when my brain tries to trick me into thinking I can't do something, I need to remind it that I can.

Drinking water when I'm hungry is actually a great strategy. I should do it more often.

All water and juice makes Steph have to pee.

Also, if what you put into your body is green and juicy, what comes out will be... you can guess.

Hungry is mostly in my brain. Not in my belly.

Monday morning: I slept the sleep of queens last night. I've noticed I didn't need as much sleep this weekend! Energy good, mood good, weight 150.8.

So, I lost almost 3 pounds, which leads me to believe that a juice cleanse isn't a good diet. But I do recommend it for cleansing/resting your gut. Also, it would be a good way to start a new healthy living lifestyle, to train your body to not mindlessly snack, to drink water, and to reduce unhealthy cravings. This morning, I thought I would want toast and PB and lots of bready stuff. Instead, I'm going to eat this lovely pineapple!

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Saturday morning: I woke up about 6am, but decided I could use more sleep, so I listened to my audio book (The Prestige, by Christopher Priest) for about half an hour, and went back to sleep until 8:30. Again, when I woke, I was thirsty for water, but not hungry at all. I had drunk some water about 2am. I have a 9 mile run planned for today, so I got up & got ready for that.

Maybe I should think about adding "Get a haircut" to my list. My pre-run hair was awesome.

Mood good, energy okay- I'm trying to psych myself UP for my run instead of OUT of it! Weight 152.0 down a little from yesterday, this seems normal.

I was definitely struggling with my brain about my run, so I decided to eat a banana before my run. I was really glad I did that, and drank my first juice (Detox Greens) as I headed to the running trail. One of my cyclist friends I met there at mile 3 of my run offered me a granola bar, which I was easily able to turn down. I did struggle a little during mile 8, I just felt really empty all of a sudden. I finished my run (9.33 miles in a little over 2 hours), and felt pretty good!

After my shower, I drank my second juice, and took a few of the dogs to the local Dogfest. I was talking to a gentleman there who said "It's clear that you work out!" and (referring to my Rawxie shirt that said "Stop eating crap") asked if I was a vegetarian. When I told him that I was a vegan, he was impressed, and asked me great questions about veganism.

At 3:30, I headed home, and had my third juice, the Spicy Lemonade, and read for a little while on the couch. Sweet Greens @5:30, and I was ready for a nap! I had my second Sweet Greens @7:30.

I've thought a lot about food today. Although I haven't been super hungry, I've felt hungry. I have thought about what I want to eat next week. I've thought about my tofu sandwich, I've thought about french fries. Being friends with vegan foodies on Social Media hasn't helped me, either. Maybe next time I do this, I'll also take a vacation from the internet!

I contemplated, briefly, quitting after today. After all, most juice cleanses are 3 days. But then I read this awesome article about the benefits of a juice cleanse, and felt re-inspired to continue.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/woodson-merrell-md/juice-cleanses_b_4549641.html

I ended the evening again with the Coconut Fusion, and it makes everything worth it. The planners of these schedules must plan for the richest, most soothing drink at night for a reason!

My day was absolutely successful, even (and especially) with that banana this morning. I ran over 9 miles, knocked a few things off my list, didn't have a headache all afternoon, and I feel good about tomorrow. I did get a little "flashing" this afternoon, but I'm sure that's associated with my long run, since the same thing happened last week after 8+ miles. I am glad I opted to do this mostly over a weekend, because I have to pee a lot. At least I can be confident that I am well hydrated.

Friday, April 10, 2015

I woke up this morning a little before 8am, and although I was thirsty for some water, I wasn't hungry. Weird. Although it took me a while to get to sleep (the dogs were a little on edge, and barked at small noises for a while), I slept beautifully. This morning, my mood is good, energy level is good, headache was at a 3, but, after about 40 ounces of water, it has dialed back to a 2. I weighed myself before my shower, and was pleasantly surprised to see 152.6, a loss of almost 2 pounds. I didn't expect that, and am curious to see what happens with that!

Today, I am doing the "Believer" cleanse, which is 2 Detox Greens juices, one Spicy Lemonade, 2 Sweet Greens juices, and a Coconut fusion water. I have a ripe avocado to eat just in case I need something extra.

Some juice cleansers will tell you that it is best to do a cleanse during the normal work week, when you won't be tempted by weekend activity eating, and you follow a normal schedule. I decided to do mine on a weekend, because frequently I get so busy at work that I forget to eat until I am STARVING. I also thought, with my intentions for this cleanse, it would be better to do it when I could focus some time on me.

Don't fret, though. I have plenty to do to keep me busy. This morning, I drafted a list of everything I want to do this weekend. I reviewed that, as I started my first juice (Detox Greens) just after 10am.

I drank my second Detox Green juice during my meeting. It was not super exciting, and I got sleepy. I went home, and had the Spicy Lemonade. At 6pm, I feel a little hungry. It's probably in my head, and meal planning didn't make it easier! I checked off some items from my list.

This may be TMI, but I've had to pee all day! I had a moment on my walk where I was really close to peeing in the woods. I'm a little concerned about my long run tomorrow....

The "Believer" cleanse is certainly not as flavorly interesting as the "Whenever" cleanse. I am not sad about not drinking the Piney Apple Mint juice, but as I drink the second Sweet Greens juice, I am missing the Beet juice.

I'm ending the evening now with the Coconut Fusion, and an episode of Criminal Minds on Netflix. Why do I watch these scary things before I sleep? Recap of the day: mood good, headache level this evening 1, energy level okay, lots of pee.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

I'm starting a 4-day juice cleanse today. There are lots of reasons people do juice cleanses. Some like to do a cleanse to "detox" (that word is thrown around a lot these days!) Their systems. Folks who might benefit from this mindset are those who eat a standard American diet of meats, dairy, fried foods, junk foods, etc. A detoxing juice cleanse might help here to provide the nutrients your body craves, and give you a chance to eliminate some stored junk from this diet. Needless to say, that's NOT why I'm doing a juice cleanse. Other folks like to do a cleanse to jump-start a diet or weight loss program. Although many people, from what I've read, don't lose a significant amount of weight, a cleanse might be most beneficial here in the mindset and intention setting. Giving your body a clean start isn't a bad way to start any program, in my opinion! This, however, is also NOT why I'm doing a juice cleanse. I am a long time vegan, and follow a generally healthy meal plan and exercise schedule, so I don't have the intention of jump starting anything. Even though I've lost 30+ pounds since I started running in 2012, I'd like to lose about 10 more, but weight loss is not my intention with this cleanse.

So, then, why am I doing this cleanse? Well, the third reason, and my reasoning behind doing the juice cleanse, is that I want to give my body a break, and reward it for everything it does for me. This juice cleanse is my way of taking my digestive system to the spa. And I owe it to my system. In the last two months, I had winter snow storm munchies (you know, it's a snow day, so let's bake things!), lots of out of town visitors which meant more eating out, a birthday party, which was then followed by a week where organic vegan carrot cake was part of my daily breakfast, etc. I'm giving it a break for a few days. I deserve it!

I'll be doing a juice cleanse with cold-pressed juices from a New York company called Juice from the raw. I purchased the "Believer" cleanse, a 3-day, mostly green juice sequence. They accidentaly sent me the "Whenever" cleanse, which is a mix of green juices and fruit juices, but when I contacted them, they sent the missing bottles of green juice. This means I'll be able to do an extra day, and tell you about both!
I paid for this cleanse, and am not endorsed by this company in any way so you know my opinion here is totally and honestly mine. I will say that thus far, I was impressed with the packaging, and the rapid shipping. All the juices were sent frozen, and arrived within just a couple of days of my order. There's not a lot of literature included, but the website has How-to information, and they say they'll coach you through your cleanse if you call during business hours. This isn't my first juice cleanse, so hopefully I won't need a lot of coaching...

On to my day.....

Rob had to leave super early this morning, so I woke up as he was getting ready to go (around 4am). Before I was able to get back to sleep, I started thinking about (and getting excited about) the cleanse! I started to read some Amazon reviews, but that almost seemed like cheating, like I was finding out a plot spoiler, so I went over to the Juice from the Raw site (www.juicefromtheraw.com) to look at nutritional information. 'Cause that's how I roll, yo. Today I'll be drinking juices from the "Whenever" cleanse (which is the one they suggest for new cleansers, or those that follow a standard American diet).

Anyway, I started looking at the juice ingredients: kale, pineapple, lemons, beets, coconut, dates, YUM. Wait, it's not even time to wake up yet, why am I making myself hungry? I drank some water, and went back to sleep.

Just for science sake, I'll be tracking my weight, mood, headaches, and energy levels. Here's my stats upon waking morning of day 1: weight 154.4, mood okay, headache level 2, energy medium. I'll keep in mind that my headaches fluctuate with other factors, and unfortunately it looks like the next few days are going to be rainy and stormy, which often leads to increased headaches.

The juices arrived frozen (as this type of raw product should be shipped!) And the instructions suggested keeping them frozen until the day before you drink them. It suggested defrosting at room temperature, but I was concerned that they might get too warm yesterday, so I put 6 juices in the fridge. This morning, they were still rather slushy. I decided to drink some water, and go for a run, and leave the juices out for my return. I planned on a 4 mile run today, but due to some weirdness on my running trail, I only got in a little over 2 miles. Once I got home, I drank some more water, and started working on my to-do list of the day. Close to 12:45, I realized I hadn't had a juice yet, nothing to eat, but I just wasn't starving. I guess it was all the water I've had today (about 60 oz before noon). It was time to have one, and I started with the Detox Greens (they suggest you drink them in a particular order).

The detox greens juice is comprised of celery, wheatgrass, ginger, cucumber, wild arugula, watercress, lemon, apples, and dandelion. The flavor is good. Apples are the first ingredient, but it's not too sweet. It does taste and smell very fresh!

I had a second juice at 3:20, Not because I was hungry, but because I figured that if I was going to get all 6 juices drunk before bed, I was going to have to start drinking! The second juice was the Piney Apple Mint. The Mint smell of this juice was amazing, and the flavor was nice. This was a sweeter juice than the Detox Greens, but really refreshing! Ingredients: Pineapple, Apple, Mint.

5pm, still not hungry! But I had my third juice, this one was the Sweet Greens, with Apples, Celery, Cucumber, Kale, Spinach, Chard, Romaine, Lemon, and Ginger. This one tastes like juices that I make with my juicer. I started to wonder about the difference between my juicer and COLD-PRESSED juices.

Crazily enough, I still wasn't really feeling hungry after class. I drank the spicy lemonade, and WOW. Very tart, and a great kick!

I got home a little after 8, and still had 2 juices (and more water) I wanted to drink. So I decided to curl up on the couch with the juices, water, some Criminal Minds on Netflix, and Gene Bauer's new book in case the show got scary.

The beet juice was very good, but I actually would have liked more beets and less apple in the juice. I drink beet juice often, it is great for muscle recovery, and there's nothing better than a cold glass of fresh beet juice after a long run on a warm summer day.

At 9, I powered through the coconut fusion, a mix of coconut water, and young coconut flesh. This was very nice. I wish I hadn't been so full... My cleanse will end each day with this juice.

At the end of the day, I must say that I don't know if it was the mindset of the cleanse, or what, but I wasn't hungry at all today. I feel pretty good, and I'm excited about the next few days!

End of day 1: energy was good, headache maintained levels 1-2, mood was good. No hunger pangs. You're allowed to eat a raw vegetable each day if needed, so I had purchased avocados, but I didn't need or want one today. I think day 1 was a success.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Coming off a 4 day juice cleanse, I've got some light and fresh veggie-heavy meals planned this week. One great thing about the juice cleanse was that I dirtied no dishes over the last few days (save for the daily spoon I used to mix the dogs' food), and even though I LOVE to cook, it was kind of nice not having to do it for a few days.

This next week will be very busy wih work stuffs, so I'm not planning on cooking a few days. There will likely be restaurants involved. I'm going to make sure to save a bit of time each day for a walk or run, and my long run this week will have to wait until Sunday.

If you're interested in checking out my juice cleanse, check out my daily recap of the 4 days here (day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4). Overall, I was really pleased with the process. I felt good, the juices tasted great, I gave my belly a break, and pumped my body with green nutrients!

Monday, April 6, 2015

I woke up this morning in a little bit of a panic. I had brought home a pile of tests to grade, and then my (awesome) brother and sister-in-law came to visit for the weekend, and the tests were STILL in my bag.

UNGRADED.

And I wanted to hand them back during my 10am class.

So, In a flurry of feeding dogs and showering and eating the last bit of pineapple in the fridge for breakfast, I made my favorite green smoothie to take for lunch.

I also added a scoop of Vega one natural protein powder. This is my favorite vegan protein supplement shake. It's not overwhelming in flavor, and I actually find these sell at a reasonable price! Some days, I add a tablespoon of almond or peanut butter instead.

If you want your smoothie to be EXTRA green and healthy, you can also add in things like Matcha (fine green tea, awesome for memory and energy) or this green powder on the right is made with spirulina, wheatgrass, and dandelion, and adds an excellent taste.

Lunchtime at work! Yum!

P.S. I DID get the tests graded and returned to my students on time! Vegans are awesome!

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

But I regret to tell you, I've put my body through some terrible things while you were away. There was all this weather, you see, which just made me want to stay inside and eat warm things. Then there were so many things to celebrate, and that means more food!

Now that you're back, my friend, I know it will all be okay!

This week's meal eating, running, and reading plan are designed to cleanse my body, mind, and soul.

I'm going to start off my week with a lovely spicy vegetable dish, then follow over the next few days with some hearty salads. Then I'm going to end my week with a juice cleanse from Juice from the Raw. A periodic juice cleanse is designed to nourish your body and flush away toxins. During this cleanse, I'll be replacing my regular meals with raw, cold-pressed juices. I will possibly supplement my juice with an avocado each afternoon, on run days. I'm super excited about it! I'll also be posting a daily juice blog with my thoughts from the day each evening. Thanks to Sarah Kramer for the inspiration to do that!

I've been approved to resume running again at a short and slow interval pacing, so I've been using the Galloway method to get back into my training for the May Half in Jersey. I'm running 1:30, walking 1:00, and keeping between a 13-14 minute mile pace. I'll continue with that split for another week or so, then see if I can up the run time! This week, I'll shoot for a 9 mile long distance run.

I'm also going to take this next weekend for some serious ME time. Reading, dissertation writing, yoga practice, meditation. It will be lovely.